Game of Thrones will return for its eighth and final season in 2019, HBO confirmed in a statement.
HBO initially expected the show to return this year, though began hinting that filming the series final six episode would likely extend into summer 2018. In an interview with Variety last December, star Sophie Turner let slip that Game of Thrones final season comes out in 2019.
In a separate interview with TV Guide last October, Liam Cunningham also hinted at the delay and offered details about the ostensibly truncated six-episode season.
[The episodes are] definitely going to be bigger and what I hear is longer, Cunningham said. Were filming right up until the summer. When you think about it, up until last season wed have six months to do ten episodes, so were [doing] way more than that for six episodes. So that obviously will translate into longer episodes.
Game of Thrones wrapped its seventh season last August.